Warriors’ DeMarcus Cousins eager to prove his doubters...

1of6DeMarcus Cousins’ adjustment to being a Warrior should be helped by his growing rapport with head coach Steve Kerr.Photo: Robert Laberge / Getty Images 2018

2of6DeMarcus Cousins chats with Draymond Green (23) on the bench in the first half as the Golden State Warriors played the New York Knicks at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, January 8, 2019.Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

3of6Golden State Warriors' DeMarcus Cousins answers questions from the media after practice at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz Wednesday December 12, 2018.Photo: Cody Glenn / Special to The Chronicle

4of6Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins (0) practices before an NBA game against the Dallas Mavericks at Oracle Arena on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018, in Oakland, Calif. Cousins is currently on the injury list.Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

5of6Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins (0) practices before an NBA game against the Dallas Mavericks at Oracle Arena on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018, in Oakland, Calif. Cousins is currently on the injury list.Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle

6of6FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2018 file photo, Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins points to Utah Jazz fans in the first half during an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. Cousins will start immediately for coach Steve Kerr when the All-Star center makes his long-awaited Warriors debut in about a week following his lengthy recovery from surgery on a torn left Achilles tendon. Cousins has targeted a game Jan. 18, 2019, at the Clippers as his return date and first game of the season, though Kerr said it could even be sooner if all continues going well. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)Photo: Rick Bowmer / Associated Press

In the past 12 months, DeMarcus Cousins has sustained a career-altering Achilles injury, received minimal interest in free agency, watched from the bench as his new team struggled, and grieved the death of his grandmother.

“It’s been a long year for me,” Cousins said after the Warriors’ practice Thursday afternoon. “There have been a lot of ups and downs, but the finish line is ahead.”

Golden State finally has a target date for Cousins’ debut: next Friday against the Clippers at Staples Center. Though he is relieved to know he soon will return to game action, Cousins is well aware that plenty of questions remain.

Will he be as explosive as he was before the injury? How will Cousins handle not being a first or second option? Can he keep up with the Warriors’ up-tempo system? Defensively, will Cousins stay focused and move well enough to warrant crunch-time minutes?

Boogie Is Back

The answers could dictate the rest of his career. If Cousins can’t ease concerns about his health and reputation, he will have a tough time landing a big contract elsewhere next summer.

“The last couple of weeks, he made a big step and his overall happiness seems better,” Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s in a better place, and now we’ve got to help him along because it’s not going to be easy when he comes back. This is just the next step of the process.”

Cousins has started to hush some of his critics over the past three-plus months. Outside of his Oct. 26 ejection for arguing with Knicks center Enes Kanter, he has drawn rave reviews from teammates for mentoring the Warriors’ young centers, staying diligent in his rehab and rooting loudly from the bench.

It didn’t take long for Kerr to find common ground with Cousins. Shortly after Cousins signed a one-year, $5.3 million deal with Golden State in July, Kerr reminded him of an incident in a Warriors-Kings game in February 2017.

After being tossed for unleashing on referee Bill Spooner, Kerr locked eyes with Cousins, the second-most-ejected player in league history. When Kerr brought up that moment, Cousins told him, “I could absolutely relate.”

If Cousins has more run-ins with referees this season, Kerr will try to help him channel his fury instead of labeling him a malcontent.

“He’s out there battling for his players,” Cousins said of Kerr. “His emotions are in the game, which is great. In the past, I’ve played for coaches that ... I won’t even speak on that point. It’s good to see his emotions are in the game.”

This growing rapport should help Kerr navigate any issues that could arise with Cousins. If he is benched late in a game for defensive reasons, Cousins is more likely to keep his cool when he believes his coach is genuine.

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DeMarcus Cousins discusses return from Achilles

Video: San Francisco Chronicle

So often angered by what he viewed as incompetence in Sacramento, Cousins now is the one who must prove he can fit into his team’s schemes. In the three months until the playoffs, he will try to master a critical balancing act, staying aggressive offensively without taking away too many shots from Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson.

Regardless of whether Cousins holds his own defensively, he should be an upgrade from the undersized crew that has been manning Golden State’s interior. At 6-foot-11, 270 pounds, he’s a more daunting matchup for the likes of Joel Embiid, Steven Adams and Al Horford.

“He’ll start,” Kerr said of Cousins. “After that, everything is on the table. We’ll have to figure out what the rotation looks like and how many minutes he can play. … We haven’t had a player like him here before. It will be new.

“It won’t be as simple as just plugging him in and having him fit right in. We’ll play through him some, but there will be a period where we all have to adapt. Fortunately, we’re halfway through the year. We have a lot of games to figure this out.”

Over his first eight NBA seasons, Cousins made sure to remember each critical article written about him. In stops with Sacramento and New Orleans, he recalled that negative fodder often, using it to propel him through a workout or game.

The past 12 months have been no different. Whenever someone on social media or from a news outlet wrote him off, Cousins vowed to come back even stronger than he was before the injury.

“I play with a chip on my shoulder,” Cousins said. “I’m looking forward to proving myself.”

Connor Letourneau moved to the Golden State Warriors beat in September 2016 after a year covering Cal. Previously, he spent two years covering the Oregon State Beavers for The Oregonian. Letourneau is a University of Maryland alum who has interned for The Baltimore Sun and blogged for The New York Times. A Portland, Ore., native, he is interested in telling the stories that extend beyond the field or court.